Even, rationalists, who are taking the movement spearheaded by Dr Dabholkar forward are shocked and could not believe how cops could resort to such baseless activities despite knowing that Dr Dabholkar himself had fought against the ill-practices of black magic, supernaturals, blind faith, witchcraft and lost his life for the same.
In the report, Khetan wrote that the then Commissioner of Police, Gulabrao Pol took the help of some self-proclaimed spiritualist who was a former constable to communicate with none other than Dabholkar's spirit to ask it for the further leads.

Meanwhile, Pol, who has already taken voluntarily retirement from the department after he was transferred from the city, vehemently denied and termed it as 'rubbish' and said that he would now read the article and will send a legal notice to the writer.

"I have not read the article however, whatever written is absolutely rubbish which has no basis as nothing of this sort happened and now I will consult my lawyer and will slap a notice," he said.

Khetan however said that since the Dabholkar murder case was sensational, he was keen to know about the investigation status since it is going to one year that there are no concrete leads in the case.

"During my interaction with some of the police officers who were associated to the case, told me that such practices are being followed in order to crack the murder mystery and I even met Pol and interacted with him," he said.

He added that he possesses all the evidences and recorded the communication while speaking to the officials while working on the report.

Dna spoke to Ranjit Abhyankar, one of the retired cops, who, the report claimed, was associated in the activity and introduced Manish Thakur, the retired constable, who used to perform all the supernatural activities at the CP office, to then CoP Pol. Abhyankar said that his help was sought by the city police and he was helping the crime branch in the detection of the case, however, they never resorted to such tactics and it is all baseless.

While talking to dna, Hamid Dabholkar, the son of Dr Dabholkar said he has not read the article however if it is true then it shows that the cops have fallen prey to such tactics, against which his father fought for his entire life and this is the defeat of his ideology.

Mukta Dabholkar-Patwardhan said, "I am in shock to know that a police officer of a commissioner rank is resorted to such activities which is against the law."

She added that if such thing have taken place then its a disappointing.

Avinash Patil, a member of ANIS demanded that an inquiry should be ordered in this case and if it is true then a strict action should be taken against the people who resorted to such tactics.

Shyam Manav, the president of 'All India Andha-shraddha Nirmulan Samiti said that is the story authentic and if it is true, then it is completely irrational and unscientific.

"Dr Dabholkar has fought against irrational and superstitious beliefs and if the then police commissioner Gulabrao Pol himself has come under the spell of irrationality and unscientific temperament, it is really disappointing and I strongly condemn such a kind of thinking and the manner in which investigation has been done," he said.

Shrikant Shivade, a senior lawyer said, "I know the fact that cops sometime resort to such practices to get the cases solved and such practices are not only used in India but very common in abroad.

"But such evidences are not permissible in court of law and cops usually use the clues to get the breakthroughs in the cases," he said.

The report by Ashish Khetan, the freelance journalist, claims that in order to get the leads in the murder case of Dr Narendra Dabholkar, the then Commissioner of Police, Gulabrao Pol took help of a self acclaimed spiritualist Manish Thakur, who too was a former constable in the police department to communicate with the spirit of Dabholkar for further leads. Thakur and another retired ACP Ranjit Pandurang Abhyankar, had introduced Pol to Thakur. The report claims that the then chief of city police gave them complete freedom to investigate the case using the supernatural practices and Thakur used to conduct a seance to summon Dabholkar’s soul by lighting a candle, placing a vessel of water and lying on bed in an anteroom to the commissioner's office. the report also claims that Pol had even recounted him some of the conversations, he had with the spirit, which report claims that used to come inside Thakur and Pol then used to ask spirits about the leads. The report also claims that the crime branch officials then used to work on the information generated and used to pick up suspects and used to interrogate them.